Conference
by NauruAyumi
Summary: OneShot KakeruxKomaki, taking place at the inn where Tohru and Kyo's wedding has elapsed. Kakeru and Komaki have an important conference with some communication issues and romance... Something's in the Air. Part 1 of Contagious Concepts. R&R!


Part one of Contagious Concepts- A concept for my each of my favorite Furuba pairings. They take place after the reception of Tohru and Kyo's wedding (they're 22, it took him awhile to get the guts to ask her...). Its a moonlit night and there is something contagious in the air.

KakeruxKomaki- Conference  
RinxHaru- Confront  
KisaxHiro- Confess  
YukixMachi- Confidence  
KyoxTohru- Consecrate  
HatorixMayu- Concern  
KurenoxUotani- Conquer  
KaguraxKunimitsu- Connect  
ShigurexAkito- Condemn  
Momiji and Momo- Conversation  
AyamexMine- Congruent  
RitsuxMitchan- Conceal  
KazumaxHana- Congratulate  
KimixNao- Condone

I'll be posting them as separate one-shots, because the ratings will change between them.

Disclaimer- Furuba isn't mine. Nope. And I made up Hanatsu.

R&R! I'd love to know what you think. Tell me which fic I should post/write next! No flames, flames hurt.

--

Komaki looked over her shoulder at the window of her room at the inn where Tohru's wedding had just taken place hours before. She stared at the full moon above the ornamental pond, its face was perfect and radiant and pure. She was so glad that she and Tohru had become friends. They had so much in common as she'd discovered the few times Kakeru had invited Yuki and Machi and Tohru and Kyo to go drinking with them, after they'd come of age. He'd been so silly about it, announcing that since they had turned 21 they had to go to bars to live their adult lives to the fullest. Of course he lost interest quickly as Machi would simply stir her drink continuously and Yuki would take a few sips and forget all about it. Tohru didn't drink and Kyo never took his eyes off her. They were not entertaining drinkers. And he discovered he didn't really like the taste of alcohol much at all.

She was looking at the silver sky, the moon's halo making the duller stars disappear, thinking of all the people she'd come to know in the last four years. Being with Kakeru meant hanging around with Yuki and all of the people who, inevitably, came along with him. Kakeru told her, in one of his rare serious moods, that Yuki used to be very lonely, but he'd changed and now he was never alone. He learned to get closer to people. Komaki knew that Kakeru and Tohru had played a part in that. She'd met most of the people present at the wedding, something rare at such occasions.

The young woman smoothed back her hair and brushed off her yukata, smiling. There was something about this wedding, this moon that was contagious. The feeling spread through her like an unfamiliar scent, mysterious but sweet and intoxicating. She couldn't help but think of Kakeru. She loved him so much; she found herself thinking about him when they were apart and thinking of little else when they were together.

Thinking of him seemed to be enough and the paper door flew open with a loud and startling noise. There Kakeru stood, looking rather silly. He'd changed out of his suit and put a yukata on for sleeping but neglected to remove his formal trousers from underneath. The expression on his face was a familiar intense gaze that meant he had something strange to say.

"Komaki!" He hollered to catch her attention. There was no need for the extra effort. She had been looking at him from the moment he'd thrown open the door, but he felt it would be more appropriate to say her name. It sounded cooler. "Your captain is calling a mandatory conference!" He was perfectly serious, at least in expression and intonation.

"Yes, c-captain?" She said, bewildered but confident in the assumption that it would be safest to play along. His loud voice seemed very out of place in the peace of the relaxed inn.

He stepped in; removing his slippers and snapping the door shut primly behind him like an old lady may snap shut her purse. His face had calmed, though Komaki knew he had the next declaration just behind his façade.

He sat on the floor on his knees, resting his hands atop his legs, palms down. His eyes were closed and his eyebrows knitted. Komaki tried not to laugh at his old man act, instead just looked at him curiously. He was going for manly, she guessed, sitting like that on the tatami. He peeked up at her, trying not to abandon his tough exterior, and gestured for her to sit, herself.

"Ah-" She stuttered as she hesitated before kneeling. She crossed her ankles and sat as her mother had taught her when she was very small. She remembered, as her lover made a dignified silence, sitting at the tea ceremony when she was ten years old. She had wanted to squirm or to at least sit more comfortably but looking at her mother's perfect pose gave her the courage to keep going. Hanatsu Nakao had been a rare woman in her poise and modesty and Komaki had always wanted to be like her, though she understood certain circumstances made that quite impossible. She leaned back to rest on her shins, less than comfortably, and kept her breath quiet. She knew Kakeru probably only had a few seconds left in his silence. He was never one to leave the air clear for too long.

Sure enough his eyes flew open, like the door. Kakeru sure did a lot of flying. She smiled inwardly at her joke. For someone as dense as herself it was an infrequent occasion.

"Komaki Nakao!" He barked.

"Yes?" She said, startled by his volume. His face fell ever so slightly.

"You're supposed to say 'present'." He pouted.

"Eh? Is this roll call?"

"Of course it's roll call! You can't start a conference without taking roll!" He fumed like a spoiled child. He was being difficult and it was kind of cute.

"I see…" Komaki said, buying every word. "Present, then." She smiled gently. She'd never been in a conference before. She wondered if it was fun.

Kakeru nodded as if everything was perfectly normal about holding a two person conference in a hotel room at a wedding at nine pm.

"Captain Kakeru Manabe… present." He nodded, checking himself off his mental list briskly. "Well then, we may begin."

Komaki knew that eventually her boyfriend would have to get to the point. She was patient like her mother and had nothing else to do, though she could feel the effects of the day on the edges of her eyes.

"First item of business!" Kakeru was taking his time. "I lost my room key." He was quite blunt about it but not even Komaki could buy a lie as obvious as that. There were no locks on the screen doors. The inn was rented for the celebration and it was expected that if a door was closed, no one would enter. It preserved a sense of openness and trust. Komaki just looked at him and he continued without a second thought.

"Second item of business!" He stared directly into Komaki's eyes. "We are at an inn and there's a full moon." Komaki gave him a confused look; he was stating the obvious for some reason. He continued. "We are both wearing yukata!" That didn't clarify anything, though she understood he was trying to tell her something.

Suddenly he wasn't sitting, instead crouching on the balls of his feet. He moved closer, a new look in his eyes. They were darker and smooth as glass, his mischief gone. His face was up close and she felt her heart thump.

"You're so beautiful and the moon is shimmering on the surface of the pond." He drew out his last few words as he leaned in. He closed his eyes as his lips touched hers. She sighed deeply.

In an instant she was on her back, startled, as Kakeru peppered her neck with short, breathy kisses. Her skin flushed.

"Ka-Kakeru… wait!" She spoke as he ran his hands up her sides, leaving one on the rise of her chest as his other pulled at her neckline. Words were getting difficult. He placed a slow, warm kiss at the base of her throat. She kept her gasp back. She knew she had to stop him somehow. She didn't trust herself if he got any further.

"Kakeru, hold on, please!" She said, a bit louder this time. She was going for insistent but he wasn't really listening. He moved his hands to her hair, to her slight relief and brought his lips to hers. He kissed her desperately, trying to shut her up, she realized. That annoyed her and her chagrin gave her more strength. Who was he not to stop when she asked?

She planted her palms firmly against the place where his shoulders met his arms. She knew the nerve bundle or muscle group or whatever it was was rather sensitive and she pushed, using all the force she could muster from her position.

His lips pulled away with a warm 'smack'.

"Komaki?" They sat up in tandem, him holding onto her wrists very gently. His face was rather concerned but a bit impatient. Komaki sighed inwardly. What a time for him to be in the mood.

She opened her mouth to speak but her mind caught on the words. She hadn't thought much further beyond 'stop'.

"Ka-Kakeru…" She looked away, blushing, and stalled. "Um, that is." Her eyes met his. She had to try something. "We, we can't. Not in the middle of a conference." her voice was high-pitched and rushed.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, suddenly half-serious. "If that's the case…" He leaned in again. Komaki felt his teeth graze the edge of her ear. She shuddered, trying to lean away. His breath was warm on her skin. "I call this conference…" He let a breath out of his nose. "Closed." Komaki closed her eyes tightly. She wouldn't let herself relax.

Suddenly her senses returned to her. "No!" He bounced back at the interjection. She sat up, returning to her knees, forcing him to do the same for the sake of his balance.

She took a breath. "You can't stop the conference if there's another item of business." He looked confused and his face was flushed. Surely the contagion had reached him as well.

"There's a third item of business?" He seemed curious although distracted. He'd managed to leave a darkening mark on her throat and he was fixated on it. "And it means we can't get naked?" He was pouting again. Any other night… she lamented to herself, it was hard to resist his face.

She was getting a dark feeling in her stomach, she wasn't sure if she could say what she knew she had to. She had been sick a lot lately and a similar sensation was climbing her innards. Hot bile rose in her throat. She panicked, and jumped up, covering her mouth with one hand. She dashed out the sliding door, nearly tripping over the narrow confines of her yukata.

Kakeru was only a moment behind her, his face deeply worried, as she emptied her stomach into the toilet. He held her hair back from her face and rubbed her back as she heaved. He couldn't ask her to speak. She felt so sick, and ashamed, and so many things swirling through her. She knew they were in her mind, but something was flowing through her veins, she was sure of it.

She stood up, a few tears running down her face. She hated throwing up; it reminded her of how her mother had thrown up so often in the end, before she died. Komaki couldn't believe they had the same sickness. She recalled the smell of acid and cleaning fluid. She'd wanted to be like her mother, but this way terrified her. What if they ended the same way?

She was shaking with a few cold sobs when she heard the sink running for a moment and before anything registered, Kakeru was there, wiping her mouth and her eyes with a cool, damp, washcloth, banishing the sweat and tears and flecks of vomit. He didn't understand exactly what was going on. How could he? They'd been kissing and all of a sudden, she pushes him away and runs to throw up. What would he think? She fell into his arms as he was wiping her forehead. She felt weakened and not empty enough, not nearly enough.

He held her close, one hand firm against the small of her back and the other making-do with just a forearm as he tried to keep the cloth off of her. "Am I that bad a kisser?" He murmured, joking, their foreheads resting together. Komaki didn't realize his jest and pulled back.

"No!" She protested. "That's not it! Quite the opposite actually." She looked into his chest and blushed. It was feeble on her sickly complexion after her nausea.

He cocked his head. "My kissing is so good you want to throw up?" He said with a half-smile. She shook her head. How could she explain? "Um.. Yes?" She said. It was true, if indirectly.

He looked into her dark eyes, pulling her chin up with the hand that held the washcloth. It was very cool against her feverish flush. "Tell me what's going on, Komaki." He was entirely serious. She pulled away. She couldn't bear to be in his arms when she told him.

"Third item of business." She managed to say. Her voice was strangled, and her throat burned. She choked for a second. Kakeru moved forward to comfort her, but she stepped back. She had to just do it. "Third item of business. Um…" She couldn't find the courage. She thought of Hanatsu. Hanatsu's final illness. "Third. Well." Tears fell down her face. She was terrified. What would he do? Would he be mad? Would he leave? Would she die?

"Komaki…" He whispered. He had promised to understand her, to love her completely, perfectly, yet here she was in tears. "Whatever it is you have to say, I want to hear it. You can't leave an item of business once it's been declared you know. Very bad manners." The second half of his sentence was lighter-hearted but the first half was totally sincere.

She felt something deep inside her relax. She couldn't help but believe him, no matter her doubts. They'd been through so many good times and so many bad times together. Perhaps she was so scared because she wasn't sure which one this time would be.

Komaki took a deep breath and tried to let it clear out the corners of her mind. She would tell him, she decided, and just see what happened. It wouldn't change how she felt about him, even if his emotions did shift.

"I'm… That is, third item of business is, Kakeru!" She was desperate. Why was it so difficult to say? She rubbed her forehead with the heels of her hands, crying harder. "Is… I'm." He was looking at her intently, and the moment their eyes connected she couldn't look away and she found the strength. "I'm pregnant, Kakeru. Morning sickness." Her shoulders sunk. She broke their eye contact. She had given him the chance to totally destroy her, and she was waiting, hardly daring to hope.

"Morning sickness?" He asked. His face was rather innocent, not the twisted expression she had pictured. The one that told her that she was a mistake and that he couldn't handle her. She flinched, waiting for his decree. "Morning sickness?" He repeated, quieter. He seemed to be thinking about something. Perhaps her statement hadn't registered. She nodded. "But its evening!" He laughed loudly. "Totally weird!" He declared.

Komaki opened her eyes and looked up at him, mind-boggled. He was pondering her use of the term morning sickness? He wasn't angry? He stepped forward, the look on his face honestly happy. He was smiling with wonder. He was several inches away when he stopped and took her hand.

"You'd do it for me? You'd have our baby?" He asked quietly, hopefully. Komaki's heart soared. She was right to love this man, she had no doubt, doubting if she ever doubted at all. She placed his hand on her belly, though it had not yet begun to show any signs.

"Yeah," she whispered. "Yeah."

"Right here?" He asked, his hand rather limp, as if he was afraid to touch it. She nodded, the last tears ejected from her eyelids as she blinked them away. A smile crept over his face and it traveled through the air to curl across her lips. He was being so gentle, she curled his fingers to better grip her stomach. Komaki stroked his hand as he stroked her stomach and their baby.

Suddenly he looked up, not letting go of her. "I've got it! We should totally name our baby Haneko!"

"Ehhh?? Tooth-cat? Why?" Komaki reeled slightly. What a strange, fierce name. If Kakeru wanted it, she would, but it was so strange. Not at all normal.

"Nooo.. Hane-ko, feather child! Because I'm Kakeru, flying, so feather and you're Komaki, so -ko! It's perfect!" She giggled at his strange logic. "You're so funny! What if it's a boy?" She felt so light hearted suddenly; she could barely remember her anxiety from before.

"It'll be a girl. I'm sure of it. I'll even shave my eyebrows."

"What does that have to do with anything?" She pulled him close and he held on to her for a moment. She felt so peaceful, and safe, and happy. So happy. And she wanted tuna fish and hardboiled eggs with hot sauce rather desperately. She ignored the craving.

"Fourth item of business!" Kakeru crowed, not letting go. "Visiting your family graves!"

"Hmm?" She mumbled. "Why?" He was so warm. But the conference wasn't over. It would be very rude to kiss him…

"I want to ask their permission." She felt his arms leave her, the hand on her belly leaving last. She could still feel its print as he knelt. Suddenly she was very aware of their location. Him on his knees in a bathroom with Komaki at nearly ten at night.

"Will you marry me?" He looked her in the eyes again. His gaze always made her want to melt. She adored his eyes and all the things she could see in them. She could see the two of them and Haneko, walking hand in hand. She wanted it, but she had to ask.

"Are you just asking because I'm going to have a baby?" He looked down and to the side.

"Nah… Its just I thought it would be weird if I asked you at a wedding, but y'know. This is kind of a good opportunity." Komaki laughed out loud, grabbing his hand and pulling him to her level. "Of course I'll marry you." She hugged him again, noticing how he was trying to be more gentle with her. She must seem more breakable, though all she felt differently at that point was another yearning ache for hot sauce. "Conference over." She whispered into his ear and kissed his cheek after thinking for an instant.

"I should probably brush my teeth, huh." She giggled.

--

Did anybody catch that Hanatsu died from some kind of childbirth complication? I'm not sure if I made it obvious enough..

Hanatsu- to set free

Hane- feather

Ko- child

Ha- tooth

Neko- cat

R&R thanks so much! Hope you enjoyed!

Kakeru- to fly


End file.
